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When waste collector Ken Jarvis found a dog chained to a doorhandle in scorching heat, it made him wish ill on the animal’s owners.

“What I’d like to do with people like that is put a big fur coat on them and put them on a driveway and see how they like the heat baking in the sun,” he said.

Having been bitten by a dog in past, he didn’t approach the geriatric Chow Chow struggling to find shade from the mid-day sun at the Oshawa home last Wednesday. He immediately called his wife to get in touch with the Humane Society of Durham Region.

“I thought ‘What’s wrong with these people?’” he said. He kept watch on the dog until an animal cruelty investigator arrived around 2 p.m.

As an officer for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Debby Houghton has seen her fair share of bad situations. Yet every single time she finds a dog left outside in the heat, she can’t believe it.

“The heat wave was all over the news for three days,” she said. “And to tie a dog up in this manner and to leave it unattended is beyond me.”

The owners weren’t home when she rescued the dog from their property. Later the veterinarian told her that waiting 10 minutes longer would have resulted in the dog’s death.

When she found it in extreme distress, almost choking on its leash and trying to find shade under nearby cedar bushes, she brought it to her air-conditioned car where it began convulsing.

“The dog couldn’t even walk,” she said. “Its pupils were dilated ... foam was coming from the mouth and the nose. It was very distressful.”

The dog was taken to the North Oshawa Veterinary Clinic and was later released in stable condition. It is now in the custody of the Humane Society.

Houghton confirmed that the owners were aware of the investigation and added charges are pending.

“If we or the police were to found any animals in immediate distress, there will be consequences,” she added.